Sukoshi Kage
by A. G. Moria
Summary: For them, it all started in the top of the first mansion of Thriller Bark. It was from there that a cry came and it was also where a last cry was heard from. Two shadowy figures were left with only each other to go to in this insane, harsh world from that point on, and neither one would be willing to go on without the other by their side. This is their story...
1. Chapter 1

**Hello people of Fanfiction or just One Piece Fanfiction! This story used to be called **_**"Little Kage"**_** but I went back and decided to give the entire story a full overhaul. I've finished editing the first chapter and I am almost done with the second and third, so they will be up soon.**

**Either way, I'm going to go back through all of the chapters of this fanfic and fix them all since as I read over the whole story just to see what I had to fix I slammed my hand on the computer screen and yelled, "Fuck! I gotta fix this NOW!" and I seriously mean that I couldn't believe how many mistakes I made with my own dang story. Sooo… That's why I'm going to edit and finish it at last, but only one chapter at a time since I don't feel the need to just post up like two at a time.**

**So with all of that finally said and done, let the newly refurbished chapter one set sail!**

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It was an unfortunate night for any who dared to sail in these particular foggy waters…

The massive ship, Thriller Bark, sailed right on the boundary between the fog and the open, clear sea beside it as an imaginable silence swept across both the sea and the ship. A single cry of pain and misery rang out and broke the silence, but only for a second before all returned back to the way it was before the shrill cry. The owner of the cry was fading away as rain drops started to fall from their clouds in the sky and they were unaware that they were only making that person's death so much more miserable for both the person and their family.

It was in the top of the first mansion of Thriller Bark where the cry came from and it was also where a last cry was heard from as well. The room they were in seemed like a room from pages of a gothic graphic novel, cold and dark, with cathedral ceilings and ornate carvings and scary gargoyle-like statues perched on the outside of the building. A full moon shone brightly through huge stained glass windows behind a figure lying on her death bed, filling the room with an eerie bluish light.

A hoarse voice then managed to croak out, "Live…" just before taking one last look at her husband and the tiny object that was held within his arms before taking in one last breath and leaving the world with a smile on her face That woman realized that she would never again see the moonlight of the midnight sky with her family and excepted her fate. The pain she could've shone before her death could've just been tears running down her face but she managed to compose herself for the sake of her child, for the sake of her first and only daughter.

The silence that had once filled the area before returned right after the dying figure had just left the world only to but shut out again as an ear piercing sound could be heard from anywhere on or around the large pirate ship. It was of now that the crying of a newborn was the only sound to be heard throughout the entire mansion and the whole island. This, of course, was a most memorable moment for all who lived on the pirate ship and any who served under the captain of said ship.

However, the captain, as well as master, was simply gazing down upon a fresh corpse and for the first time in his career as a pirate, he didn't want to use a corpse to plant a shadow inside and make it an undead zombie. No, he looked down upon the woman with a loving, tender look in his eye that showed just how much he loved and cared for her when she was living. The woman that he had taken as his bride years ago, that a few seconds ago was a breathing woman giving birth to their baby, was now and forever dead.

However, hell would have to freeze over before the master showed his true emotions in front of his minions, so with nothing more than a single tear sliding down the long neck of the master, he now silently held onto his crying daughter within his arms.

Two zombie servants pulled a white sheet over the woman's body and then pushed the table away as the good doctor of the pirate ship walked towards his master.

The doctor's hands and the whole front of his shirt was smeared with the fresh blood of his master's late mistress even though shame washed all over the skilled surgeon. He couldn't do anything to save that woman from her death; there was just so much blood and so little time and he had just cut the baby's umbilical cord as well. He thought that this was going to be a simple delivery and now all he could think about was what he was going to say to his master and the shame that would now haunt him for the rest of his life.

"Master Moria," Doctor Hogsback sighed greatly as he stepped towards his shadowy master with his hands placed behind his back. "Even with my medical skills I couldn't do anything to save her from death." He glanced up at Moria who was now looking down at the crying child wrapped up in a soft blanket. "There was just so much blood and so little time… I never thought that this was going to happen the way it happened, but if only I could have done something-" The doctor was cut off as Moria raised his gloved hand in the air.

"Leave now…" The Shadow Lord said only those two words before returning his attention back to his newborn child.

_"Such great sorrows these two souls must now go through, truly they have my condolences."_ Hogsback thought as he was forced to leave the room before his head could've been chopped or before something much, much worse occurred. He turned his head around and gazed at the white sheet one last time. _"Truly birth and death are the two miracles of life."_

"I told her that she would die if she wanted to have a child." Moria said to himself. "She knew she would perish too, but why was she so happy when she found out she was pregnant when she knew she'd most likely end up dead? God… but she was so damn persistent about having a child that I caved in and gave her that wish of hers, but hell why did she have to die to only catch a glimpse of our child?" Another tear slipped down his long neck and landed on the floor with audibly splat as it splattered against the stone.

"…How long did I have to wait to see her die?"

The words echoed in and throughout his mind, _nine months_.

Gecko Moria watched for nine months as his beloved mistress grew weaker and weaker with each passing day, but he also watched as she grew happier and happier by the minute. Her wish had come true and she lived long enough to spend at least a few minutes with their child before her passing. However, with her passing, Moria would be left to wonder for the rest of his life how his life and his daughter's life would've been different if his wife was still living. Oh why did the universe have to be so unclear with its mysterious ways of fate? Frankly, Moria didn't care about fate or destiny, all he wanted was to change one of the two so that his lover would still be breathing and they could be together again.

Still, now with his wife dead and a whimpering baby in his arms, one thing managed to pop into Moria's mind before anything else could.

"Ashlethen Gecko Grace Moria," Moria managed to smile just a bit as he remembered when his late mistress had discussed names with him over their child's own name. "Your mother would've loved to hear that I agreed on her with your first name, Ashlethen, and our daughter should at least her mother's middle name for her middle name like she would've wanted. …Though, she can't desire anything anymore…" His thoughts went back to the sheet covering his wife's face. "And now I'm all you have and you're all I have in the world, Ashlethen." Somehow the crying child seemed to stop weeping at the sound of her name and only smirked as her father took notice of that and glanced down at her.

Whimpering just a little bit due to moving her newborn muscles, little Ashlethen somehow managed grabbed her father's enormous index finger as he held it out for her. Hell, Moria even managed to laugh a little when she tried to wrap her two little arms all the way around finger but physically failing to do so.

"You like your name, my little angel?" He asked softly. Now it may have just been all the tears he was now holding back in his eyes, but Moria could've sworn that he saw the baby nod her head as she stroked over the glove's fabric.

Yes it was an unfortunate day but it was also a memorable day for Thriller Bark; one life was taken and one life was born into existence. It could've been destiny or fate's way of saying something or a lot of things were coming into the Moria family's way soon enough but as for right now, Moria's smirk grew back to its normal size and for the first time he carried the small newborn in his arms and carried her out of the room.

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**A few minutes later…..**

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It hadn't been but a couple of hours since the little zombie trio, Bao, Nin and Gyoro, had seen their master and mistress. The three of them were completely aware that they left for the first mansion so that their mistress could deliver her baby, but they were completely unaware of their lady's passing. No, they had only been waiting for their masters to return with their newborn child; death hadn't even crossed their minds in the slightest bit and now it was coming at them without giving them the slightest warning whatsoever.

The three zombies took notice of their master's presence before he even reached the master bedroom since they could hear his footsteps from almost a mile away like anyone could. Once the door to his room opened up and revealed his silhouette, the three of them instantly cheered upon his return.

However, he paid them no mind as he walked over to unoccupied crib that was made for his child a few weeks ago. The crib, itself, stood at a height of twenty feet and was carved from bloodstained cherry tree wood and had several signature carvings of ocean waves skillfully edged into the wood from a carpenter zombie that Moria had first requested to make such a crib when he first heard that his mistress was carrying his child. Soft silk blankets were laid down on several plush toys that were randomly scattered about the baby's bed and laid happily underneath the soothing, black canopy as they patiently waited to be played with.

Moria gently placed his little girl down within the blankets and watched as she squirmed in her baby blanket after being set down onto her bed. She instantly began to whimper and whine as her tiny fingers quickly grabbed hold of her father's index finger. Ashlethen didn't want her father leaving her side and she didn't want to leave his side. Not that Moria could fully blame her. She was a baby and he was her parent. She, naturally, wanted to be close to him for protection and such.

When Gyoro, Nin, and Bao took notice of the adorable sight of a their new little master refusing to let go of her father, they smiled and hurried to climb their way into the crib so that they could get a better look at their newborn master. The three of them quietly crept closer to their little master and took in every genetic feature that was obviously passed down to the little baby from her parents.

"Awww, Master-sama she has the cutest little eyes, and they're dark enough to resemble someone's shadow!" Bao said as he gazed down upon her. "She definitely got that from you. And it seems the brown hair that covers most of her head must be from Mistress-sama… but the rest of her hair seems to turn red right at the tips. That last bit must be from you as well. Oh and she has little, sharp triangular teeth already and tiny, little devil horns as well!"

"The little master-sama even has purple nails like yourself Master-sama!" Nin pointed out.

"But it seems like Mistress-sama's genes really only went into the little master-sama's hair." Gyoro stated before he asked a question that almost caused their master to let his emotions overpower him. "Speaking of which… Master-sama, where is Mistress-sama?"

Moria suddenly coughed and fought against the pain in his chest, gradually relaxing as it left him, a drained, miserable shell of a man. He groaned and muttered to himself, barely realizing that his three little servants and his daughter were still within earshot. "_Dammit…" _The Shadow Lord cringed at the feeling of his broken heart within his chest fall into tiny little pieces before he hissed out, "Why does this have to hurt? I never wanted to her to die…! I never wanted her to… I mean… Everyone I loved died… I just want to forget…" His tears came, punctuated only by the sound of his disturbed breathing as he mourned the loss of the friends and his former lover he'd been way too proud to cherish in life.

At that point, Gyoro, Nin, and Bao realized that they would never see their beloved Mistress-sama ever again and their eyes widened in shock and in sadness. Truth be told, the three of them would've burst into tears right then and there if it wasn't for their newest little master's cries and whines filling their ears. They instantly rushed over to their tiny master and tried to calm her down as her father tried to bottle up his feelings before they overflowed and he spent the rest of the night mourning instead of tending to the needs of his heir.

Pushing aside his feelings, acting cruelly to others or just sleeping for days to avoid having to confront the reality of his waking life… none of this made sense if feelings of loneliness were what had made him so unhappy. For all his love of hurting and terrifying others, it seemed that Moria was incapable of realizing just how much his own grief had come to define him. He was a man who had come to fear loss so much that he preferred the company of the dead over the joy, pain and complicated feelings that living friends might bring him. Even to the most insensible people, it had probably become quite obvious that he was not sane or healthy.

A tiny whimper then reached his ears and he instantly returned his attention back to his newborn daughter. The baby looked at him with her head tilted since she really had no clue what was troubling her father and why he was crying in the first place.

It was at that point that Moria knew he had to attempt to be at least a little bit more sane and a little bit more open with his child, and if not for his sake then for her own sake at the very least. She was just born into a world filled with adventure, mystery and devastation and she had no clue as to what any of those things were. She was innocent and as pure as a newborn child could be and Moria wasn't about to shut his daughter out of his life and shove her into the great, big crazy world outside. No, she needed him and he needed to give her a life where she could be allowed to live as free as she wanted to be.

However, another thought came to his mind and reminded him of another matter that needed to be tended to at the time being.

The Shadow Lord looked to the three little zombies which were hovering beside of his little girl. They were merely overjoyed in the presence of their tiny master and they would surely stay by her side if Moria were to leave the room for a few minutes. As for Ashlethen, the tiny child showed zero fear after staring the three zombie servants in the face, she merely and most likely showed pure interest over the fact that they looked like toys that she could play with when she had more energy. Moria saw this and watched as his daughter's curiosity was kept on the little zombies.

"Listen… I tend to a new corpse we have in stock." He said sadly as he started to approach the door to the master bedroom. "I need you three to watch her while I'm gone." He didn't even need to look back to see if they nodded in understanding or not, they were zombies and they would obey his orders no matter what he said to them. Right now he just needed to focus and keep his emotions together before anything else could happen.

Once their master had taken his leave, Gyoro, Nin, and Bao quickly turned their gaze back to the newborn child and saw their master's and late mistress' baby sleeping ever so quietly. Little Ashlethen had no idea of the pain and misery happening around her and had never even gotten to see her mother and would now forever not know what kind of woman her mother was. The idea of motherly love coming into Ashlethen's life was now out of the question and forever out of the question. This is the way things were going to be for her entire life and to think that her life just begun not even nine hours ago. Still, her fate could've been worse but that also must come with the passing of time as she comes to develop as a person. Right now all the little baby wanted to do was sleep and she deserved it entirely.

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**Within The Second Freezer Of The Smaller Mansion…**

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Soulless zombies hung in the air by what seemed to be meat hooks while they were being kept fresh by the severely cold temperature. At the entrance to the freezer a small table was kept steady as the woman's body was placed upon it. Gecko Moria stood by and watched over the body as it was moved and handled ever so carefully by his undead servants.

_"Ashlethen needs her mother… and I certainly can't fill that position." _Moria thought to himself as he gazed down upon his dead wife's still smiling face. _"I need an actual way to bring people back from the dead… I can't do this on my own. This… all of this… God… All of this is going to be impossible without you."_ The Shadow Lord merely watched with teary eyes as his beloved was placed within a solid white coffin and sealed away in a safe for safe keeping.

Now nothing was going to do any damage her body and now no one could even glance at the late mistress unless Moria could finally find a way to actually bring back the dead to the land of the living. Although, such a cure for death could be impossible to find in his lifetime and many more lifetimes even after he is dead as well.

Once the zombie servants stepped away from the safe and left to do whatever order they had to fulfill next, Moria walked over to the safe and carefully placed a single, perfect black rose on top of it. He silently whispered, "A single rose for my rose." He then quickly took his leave due to the fact that he didn't want his sad emotions and broken heart overflowing right then and there.

Indeed, his mourning was meant for the dark and his tears were supposed to be hidden, but would those things remain the same if a newborn is remaining in the picture? Moria had no idea and at the time being he didn't want to know anything else. He was a single father with a little daughter and his insane life had just lost even more sanity than it ever had to begin with in the first place. This was going to be one hell of a life for the both of them from this point and on.

At the time being, the fog swirled around like a slithering snake on both the outside area of Thriller Bark and even around in the freezer of the dead. Silence flooded the room before the door was shut and the departed were left to rest in peace until their possible resurrection back to the land of the living instead of that of the dead.

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**Yay I finally fixed the first chapter of this story! Truth be told, it really needed it but a year ago I wasn't a better writer than I am today.**

**Still, I'm glad I fixed it and now I must move onto the second chapter and fix that one up for this story's readers out there. **

**Until next time, you guys!**


	2. Chapter 2

**This is the continuation from the first chapter into the second chapter of this story:**

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In the dead of a cool, summer month night everything was peaceful and all was well on the huge vessel known as Thriller Bark. Giant ocean waves gracefully brushed up against the island's shore while the wind rustled the leaves of the mysterious, dark forest's trees.

A group of Wild Zombies were stargazing next to the graveyard where the Soldier Zombies snoozed quietly in their graves. Even the General Zombies patrolling the two separate mansions thought that this night had been very relaxing so far. So far meaning that they were secretly preparing themselves for yet another ear piercing cry to fill the cool night air with screams of horror.

Indeed, these type of screams had been occurring since six weeks ago, and that had been just the time when the island's late mistress had died under mysterious circumstances. Nearly none of the zombies knew why she had died but all they knew is that for the past six weeks screams had flooded the entire island ever then. Some even wondered if they were the cries of their late mistress' ghost haunting the island, and on an island full of zombie servants, the theory wasn't too hard to believe.

The cries of horror that everyone had been preparing themselves for suddenly made another return and blocked out the natural background music of the night within mere seconds. Being the middle of the night, anyone who was sleeping was woken up by the ear drowning noise but at least they weren't right next to the source of the sound unlike one person in particular.

Once more, Gecko Moria was abruptly jerked awake by his crying infant for the second time that night, and tiredly yawned as he groggily reached out her crib that was placed beside him. His fingers carefully moved around the bedding of the crib as not to knock the child around as they blindly searched for her crying form. His index finger was then latched onto by the little baby, and he retracted his hand with his daughter now taking up all the space in the palm of his hand.

While his three servants- Gyoro, Nin and Bao- quickly worked to warm some formula for their tiny master, Moria held the baby in his arms and tried a rocking motion with them to attempt to calm her down. It wasn't appearing to work since she was continuing to make such a ruckus over her not getting her mealtime when she wanted it.

She continued to cry loudly but was not wailing so hard like before she was held safely in her father's arms. Although, she certainly had her father's sharp set of lungs to make it seem like there was no difference between then and now, but thankfully her voice was quite softened when she was not crying. Still, since her birth six weeks ago, her voice has gotten a lot stronger and no one was really overjoyed to see it reach the same levels of loudness as her father's own voice. The part where if she reached the same levels of her father was still a what if however.

It was about half a minute more until Ashlethen finally calmed down enough to not be shedding anymore tears and she could finally see what was before her. Ashes looked at the other figure's eyes which were gazing down into her own, seeing her light reflection in the darkness of her father's eyes. She broke the eye contact and her eyes then shot to Gyoro, Nin and Bao, who were finished preparing her milk and were handing it up to her father. The young babe went to whine when her father gave her a look and simply said, "Hush," and it was enough for the child to not make another peep.

Again, Moria yawned and tiredly let his wrist fall a bit, letting the tip of the bottle lower down towards Ash's mouth that seemed to be longing for it. Ashes could only take the milk. She was so hungry even after all she had drank earlier that night. The bottle was put against the lips of the little baby who latched right on, even but some. "Feeling greedy tonight aren't we, Ashlethen?" The Shadow Lord asked with a smirk. He let his daughter drink a lot more milk then necessary. Making the girl strong. He forced his arm away finally.

Ashes' face turned into an upset scowl when her bottle was suddenly yanked away from her. She had started to breathe in and out deeply preparing the waterworks. She was still a little bit hungry. The milk had tasted so well to her. And she wanted more.

Her scowl did not go unnoticed. He brushed the pad of one of his large fingers brush against her cheek, "You've had your fill. Actually, maybe a bit more than I normally give you, so you're fine right now, little one." Came the voice of her father.

Seeing as she had no say in the matter of whether she got more or not was not up to her it seemed. That still didn't stop a few whines of defeat escape past her milk coated lips.

Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted from his arms and placed right beside his long stretch of neck. After being set down, Ash wriggled around trying to adjust her new spot when one of her father's approached and brushed a few hairs from her face. It then proceeded to stroke her back and calm her down.

It worked since the little child then reached out and touched the side of her father's neck as if she was attempting to wrap her little arms around it and give him a hug. She gave a pathetic yawn before resting her head against his neck and snuggling into it.

In her first few weeks of life, being close to her father was the best thing she'd ever known. It was better than both playing with the three zombie servants and napping combined to her. Of course, being a newborn, she absolutely loved being with her father. He was the only person she'd ever known in her life so far, and even though she hadn't done or had known much at that time, she knew that if they were separated then she wouldn't know what to do. Cry, maybe? But Ash had only woken up to see that her father wasn't around one time so far, and when she cried he showed back up in an instant to tend to her.

With loving thoughts in mind, she then moved in even closer to her father, feeling his pulse and hearing his heart beat repeatedly. Ash loved the way his heart sounded. It soothed her when she was upset or just needed something to fall asleep to. She nuzzled closer to it, like if she moved just a bit then she'd be in a perfect state of peace.

After a few minutes of gazing down at his daughter, Moria sighed and laid back to try and attempt to sleep once more. However, his mind kept him awake with thoughts of that of Ashlethen's mother and if she was here right now. She would know how to handle this situation with the young baby much better than he could ever hope to, but she wasn't here right now and that left him being a single father who didn't have any clue what he was doing. Of course, Moria didn't think that for one second he was doing something wrong or poorly. It was just the fact that he wasn't his child's mother and he couldn't substitute for her when the time came that Ashes really would need a mother. Like when she became a teenager…

Tearing his train of thought away from when his daughter would be a teen, Moria looked down once more to see Ashlethen sleeping peacefully. She'd been gently lulled to sleep by the sound of his heartbeat. Maybe there would be silence for the rest of the night after all. Good news for him and the rest of the inhabitance of Thriller Bark.

Moria smirked just a little bit and allowed his body to relax itself as his mind was slowly making its way back around to sleep mode. His hand came up to where his daughter was and covered her protectively before the words, "Goodnight, little one," escaped through his lips.

Ashlethen's ears perked upward at the sound of her father's voice, and she seemed to pick up on what he told her. However, silence was her only reply right now as the sound of steady breathing lulled her, coaxing her to succumb into a deep slumber. Sighing in content, she once more snuggled into her father's stitched neck and attempted to mouth the words he had told her before slipping off into his own dreams. And just like her father, Ashes did just the same.

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**Until the third chapter then, good people!**


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